How to trademark business name? Need help please..

JSonnab...

First and foremost, do not use a company like LegalZoom.  They are not attorneys and cannot provide you with legal representation during the prosecution of your application.  LegalZoom, and others like them, are simply "form fillers."  I can't tell you how many clients have come to me after using firms like LegalZoom, only to learn that the firm isn't representing them and can't really help them obtain a TM registration.

That said, you cannot "trademark" a company name unless the name is also being used to brand products or services.  You will need legal counsel to help you understand whether you meet this test or not, and LegalZoom can't do that for you.

Finally, do you know if you are filing under 1(a) or 1(b)?  Have you conducted a search to make sure you're not  just throwing your money away on an application that's likely to be rejected?

I can help you with your TM matters, as can thousands of other qualified TM attorneys.  I think you'd be well advised, to say the least, to let one of us help you.

- Jeff

torgo

I agree with Jeff.  

Please protect yourself by using an attorney.

If I may, on my site - www.nyctrademarks.com - I have a little primer about trademark law (it is not comprehensive, it gives overviews of what trademark law is).  I also describe the steps that I take in helping clients (which is, basically, what any trademark attorney would do).

-Anthony

Bernard

I have used LegalZoom for trademark searches, applications, as well as for a design patent.  After reading their Patent guide, which was a great primer on patent law and the differences between a full patent, a provisional patent, and a design patent, I felt very comfortable with the service that they provided to me.  It is my understanding that a design patent has no claims section to draft, and that the illustrations themselves were the crux of the application.  As part of their services, they provided me with access to a low-cost patent illustrator that took my cruddy drawings and created a professionally rendered illustration that looked great.  After the process was finished, I took the final results to a friend of mine, who is an in-house attorney at a software company dealing in IP, and he agreed that the final product was well put together.

As for my experience with their trademark services, I have been equally impressed.  Although their search was large (almost 350 pages), my mark was rather vague.  After inquiring about how the searches are performed, I learned that they use an attorney database service called Westlaw(?).  I felt the results were right on the mark, although overreaching.  They do narrow the results based upon your trademark name, and also provided the exact query they used to search the databse.  The application process was really easy too.  I'm very detail oriented, and called their customer service line many times to have various questions asked and answered.  Their customer service personnel was very knowlegable and helped me a great deal.

No offense JSonnabend (I know he is a moderator), but he is an interested competitor also, as he stated that he is an IP attorney that provides the same services as LegalZoom as well.

I'm not trying to start an argument, I just thought that someone would like an unbiased opinion from someone that has actually used the services in question, and had great results.  Using LegalZoom has saved me thousands of dollars in legal fees, and I have yet to have an attorney tell me that any of the products I purchased and had filed were inadequate in any way.  I also know that every case is different, but if you have a fairly straight forward situation, there is no need to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on an attorney when you can take care of it through a wonderful services such as LegalZoom.

Thanks.

JSonnab...

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WIMR_INFO

I couldn't agree more with JSonnabend.  

These are two completely different services - form fillers V qualified attorneys providing legal advice.